For the third year in a row, a hefty snow storm marked the coming of Alden's birthday. By Gilg standards, that means it's officially a tradition. We feared that the snow would keep the revelers home again, but they came out in droves!
Alden is not a fan of birthday cakes, at least that's what we hear from his caregivers at daycare. Mothers of kids with birthdays bring cupcakes or muffins for everyone to share and Alden rarely does more than poke at the frosting. After brainstorming with Alden's caregivers and Kerstin, I settled an apple spice cake garnished with fresh apples as the confection with the least chance of offending. It was spicy, gingery and sweet, but not overly so, as it was sweetened with molasses and applesauce. I thought it was a rather complex cake and wasn't sure how kids would take to it, but they all surprised us and chowed. The biggest hit for Alden was the ice cream, though. It was his first taste of vanilla ice cream and he was enchanted. He spent most of the evening reliving the magic, muttering "ice cream... cold....
delicious!!"
Our friends the Burnes' and my boss and family came to the party, as did Karen and John Carnes from the Artdogs, to whom Alden has taken a particular shine. Alden liked the birthday song and candle ritual so much that he asked us to do it twice. Evelyn helped him blow out the candles the second time. Neither of them really could aim, but they knew what to do and eventually they got it done. Go team!
When there was a lull in the storm, a small group of us went out to the backyard to try out a few sled runs. The new snow was really powdery and fast, but it took a while to get it packed down enough to make it all the way down the hill. We kept hitting embankments and coming to a soft halt in about a foot and half of powdery snow. Once our trail was established, it was much faster. We were also treated to an especially gorgeous sunset.
Alden seemed to have a really nice time and was genuinely happy to have everyone celebrate him. We skyped with family after the party and opened some gifts. Then I got to work baking a blueberry pie for the next day at daycare. I'm sure the mothers will curse me mightily tomorrow when they pick up their purple-toothed children with stained clothes and fingers, but I know that this is one treat my finicky little munchkin will eat with great gusto and to hell with the billowy chocolate cupcakes.
For the third year in a row, a hefty snow storm marked the coming of Alden's birthday. By Gilg standards, that means it's officially a tradition. We feared that the snow would keep the revelers home again, but they came out in droves!
Alden is not a fan of birthday cakes, at least that's what we hear from his caregivers at daycare. Mothers of kids with birthdays bring cupcakes or muffins for everyone to share and Alden rarely does more than poke at the frosting. After brainstorming with Alden's caregivers and Kerstin, I settled an apple spice cake garnished with fresh apples as the confection with the least chance of offending. It was spicy, gingery and sweet, but not overly so, as it was sweetened with molasses and applesauce. I thought it was a rather complex cake and wasn't sure how kids would take to it, but they all surprised us and chowed. The biggest hit for Alden was the ice cream, though. It was his first taste of vanilla ice cream and he was enchanted. He spent most of the evening reliving the magic, muttering "ice cream... cold.... delicious!!"
Our friends the Burnes' and my boss and family came to the party, as did Karen and John Carnes from the Artdogs, to whom Alden has taken a particular shine. Alden liked the birthday song and candle ritual so much that he asked us to do it twice. Evelyn helped him blow out the candles the second time. Neither of them really could aim, but they knew what to do and eventually they got it done. Go team!
When there was a lull in the storm, a small group of us went out to the backyard to try out a few sled runs. The new snow was really powdery and fast, but it took a while to get it packed down enough to make it all the way down the hill. We kept hitting embankments and coming to a soft halt in about a foot and half of powdery snow. Once our trail was established, it was much faster. We were also treated to an especially gorgeous sunset.
Alden seemed to have a really nice time and was genuinely happy to have everyone celebrate him. We skyped with family after the party and opened some gifts. Then I got to work baking a blueberry pie for the next day at daycare. I'm sure the mothers will curse me mightily tomorrow when they pick up their purple-toothed children with stained clothes and fingers, but I know that this is one treat my finicky little munchkin will eat with great gusto and to hell with the billowy chocolate cupcakes.
2 comments:
What a cute little baby!!! but however I didnt see No mention of Ben being the only one braving to storm last year to see his fav neph?? 6 feet of snow, hail the size of baseballs. And me in a 2 wheel drive car and running on gas fumes the whole way....pushing my car...uphill...both ways!!!!
The machine gun on the wall is pretty disturbing. A nice family gathering, but always prepared for a zombie attack...
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